School searches will continue to ensure safety on school premises throughout the City of Ekurhuleni.
The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) K9 Unit has confiscated over 200 vapes, knives and toy guns at a school on the East Rand.
The Benoni High School was raided on Wednesday in an effort to curb unlawful activities on school premises.
Grim discovery
The EMPD said they discovered the vapes and dangerous weapons at Belvedere School.
“With the continuous purpose to intensify operations on school searches, to curb the number of unlawful activities taking place on school premises. Learners were body searched, while the K9 Unit sniffer dog was used to search school bags in the classrooms, for illicit substances and dangerous weapons.
“During the search, officers discovered three toy guns, ten knives, seven zip locks of cannabis (dagga), three knuckle busters, 221 vapes, five matchboxes and nine lighters,” EMPD said.
EMPD said school searches will continue to ensure safety on school premises throughout the City of Ekurhuleni.
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High-risk schools
Last year, the Gauteng Education Department reported that at least 245 schools in the province had been identified as high-risk due to their locations and student behaviour.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane revealed the statistics after hosting the department’s first school safety imbizo in Klipspruit, south of Johannesburg.
‘Reflection of communities’
Chiloane said schools are “reflections of the communities surrounding them.”
“What occurs in these communities inevitably influences what happens within our schools. Peaceful communities tend to foster safe schools, while those marked by violence often see similar behaviours manifest in their educational environments.
“In such cases, learners may bring dangerous items like knives, machetes, or even firearms to school. Moreover, communities plagued by easy access to drugs and widespread substance abuse inevitably affect our schools as well,” Chiloane said.
Chiloane explained that while schools themselves were not necessarily high-risk, factors such as gangsterism, illegal drug trade and the accessibility of weapons in surrounding areas contributed to the department’s findings.
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